Category: Minority Rights

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — 26,000. That’s the number of suspensions given out just last year alone in the Columbus Public School District, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Monday night thousands met in Columbus to demand an end to what they call the school-to-prison pipeline.

Of the 26,000 suspensions, we don’t know how many are from the same student. Still, it’s a shocking number. The B.R.E.A.D. Organization said it’s too many and that students who get suspended are more likely to fail, drop out and end up in prison.

More than 2,000 people will flow into the Celeste Center at the Ohio State Fairgrounds on Monday evening for BREAD’s annual Nehemiah Action event. Afterward, Cathy Levine hopes they leave feeling the power they have to accomplish “wonderful things” in the community.

Levine, a committee chairwoman with the interfaith group BREAD — Building Responsibility, Equality And Dignity — and other group officials are hosting the event at 7 p.m. Monday.

Charleston Area Justice Ministry doubled down on calls for policing reform during the multi-denominational coalition’s annual Nehemiah Action Assembly. A confrontational exercise by design, this year’s meeting saw five Charleston City Councilmen vow their support for more transparency regarding police stops and bringing in a firm specializing in racial bias to examine the Charleston Police Department.

The Charleston Area Justice Ministry got most of the answers that it was looking for from elected officials on Monday.

One North Charleston City councilman, five Charleston City councilmen and five Charleston County School Board members took the stage at Justice Ministry’s fifth annual Nehemiah Action Assembly to answer questions in front of a crowd of nearly 2,000 at Mount Moriah Baptist Church.

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